Florida Matters

Florida Matters tackles tough issues, highlights little-known stories from our part of the world, and provides a greater perspective of what it means to live in the Sunshine State. Join us each week as we journey across the state to explore the issues important to Floridians and cover the challenges facing our community and our state.

The aging St. Petersburg Pier officially closed to the public on May 31st. The city of St. Petersburg plans to demolish it and replace it with a new pier, a design called the Lens. But not so fast, opponents of the Lens design gathered more than 20,000 signatures to force a referendum on whether or not to move ahead with those new plans. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday August 27th.

We asked our readers to tell us what they thought was confusing about the Affordable Care Act, and you called, e-mailed and Facebooked us with questions. On Florida Matters, WUSF’s Craig Kopp sits down with attorney Linda Fleming of Carlton Fields; Julian Lago, the regional vice president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, and Health News Florida Editor Carol Gentry to help answer some of those questions.

During the 2013 legislative session, Florida lawmakers were unable to agree on a plan to expand health care coverage for more low-income Floridians. WUSF’s Carson Cooper talked to three state representatives about that issue for this week’s episode of Florida Matters.